


Finding Ladybug

by Persephoneandherhades



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Misunderstandings, the sunshine child just wants to be loved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-10-06 04:46:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10325906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Persephoneandherhades/pseuds/Persephoneandherhades
Summary: Finding out who Ladybug is was only the start of Adrien's problems, not the end.





	

Ladybug was a mystery that had eluded him at first. He was so blinded by the confidence and the flashy spots that it took him longer than it should have to see what was right in front of him. He started to suspect her after Evillustrator. Both the way she fearlessly handled the akuma and the glint in her eyes when she took his pen reminded him of Ladybug. He started paying attention after that, and suddenly, she was everywhere. No matter where he looked, there she was. She could comfort a friend with utmost gentleness, and turn right around and face-down Chloe with fire and determination and righteous indignation. 

 

From there, is was all the little things building up and painting a picture that he would have to be utterly dense to miss. She was beyond flexible and could bend herself into impossible contortions, usually to entertain Alya and Rose. She was just as strong, if not stronger than Kim and Ivan and could often be found having little competitions with the two of them that she would often win. She was better at video games than all of them, and was braver than was good for her. All of these things were more than enough evidence, but it was after he had it together that she shattered the last of his doubt to pieces. 

 

It was a normal day. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been working together for over a year. She had finally warmed up to him and could hold conversations with him without stumbling over her words. It was just the four of them, Alya, Nino, Marinette and himself, all hanging out at her house. They were supposed to be studying, but they turned it into an impromptu video game marathon. Marinette had just beat him for the fourth time in a row. When he groaned in defeat, she turned and looked at him with that victorious smirk and those joyous, flower petal eyes and he knew that if he didn't already know who she was, he would have known then. That look was completely and utterly Ladybug. 

 

Marinette was Ladybug. He didn’t go looking for her, but he found her just the same. 

 

He couldn't find it in himself to tell her he knew, but it seemed like every passing day he fell further and further and hopelessly in love with her. He felt like he was rediscovering her as a person. He fell in love with the way she stuck out her tongue when she was concentrating, and the way she would wiggle her legs and hips when she was excited. He adored her passion for the things she loved, whether it be fashion or saving Paris. He admired her fire and determination when facing down akuma and often Chloe as well. Her clumsiness when startled made him laugh, and her kindness warmed his heart. 

 

She was all of the best and worst things he could think of, and was utterly perfect in her imperfection. 

 

While he watched on, she unwittingly wrapped his heart around her little finger and tugged. 

 

Nino was the first to notice his shift. He would shoot him looks whenever he caught him watching her. From then on, he made a point of making sure the four of them hung out as often as possible. Him and Alya would try to discreetly leave the two of them alone together. He knew is was their way trying to nudge the pair in the right direction, but his hopes were squashed early on. 

 

They were all having a picnic in the park and Alya and Nino had managed to sneak off again. Adrien was cracking jokes just to hear her laugh. He accidentally snuck in a cat pun when it happened. She rolled her eyes and tapped his nose. 

 

"Oh, kitten, that was terrible." 

 

His heart shattered. She only ever treated Chat Noir that way. The nose tap and the pet name were all things that Ladybug did on the regular to Chat Noir. Ladybug did not love Chat Noir. 

 

He could tell she had noticed his shift, but she misread it. She leaned back a little and jerked her hand away from his face. Her face bloomed red and she started up the stammering that she had all but gotten rid of. 

 

"S-sorry, didn't mean to m-make you uncomfortable." She scooted away to the end of their blanket and sat on her hands. They made meaningless conversation for a few minutes until Alya and Nino returned. Adrien struggled to hide behind an easy smile until it was time to go. As soon as he was out of sight, he transformed into Chat Noir and took to the roofs. 

 

He ran for hours, until the pain in his legs was equal to the pain in his heart. He awoke the next day determined not to let this get in the way. She may not love him the way he wants, but he will be damned if he isn't one of her very best friends. He could be her friend. He could be there for her and make sure she knew how much she was adored. 

 

Things continued as they always had. Adrien made a point of learning as much about Marinette as he possibly could. He tried to be her cheerleader when she was down, and a pair of open arms when she needed a hug. He tried to be there for her as much as he could, and to his astonishment, she offered him the same. Nine times out of ten, she could correctly identify his mood and offer hugs and treats from her parents bakery appropriately. Alya and Nino joked that they were being usurped from their roles as the best friend. It made all the heart break worth it when Marinette sought him out when she was having a tough time, seeking his comfort. 

 

Ladybug knew he was there for her, and now Marinette knew he was too. 

 

Lila had come as a strange surprise. After her brief stint as Volpina, she fell into a fast friendship with Nathaniel. It was a few months before she began tentatively branching out and trying to make more friends, and Adrien and Marinette were at the top of her list. She apologized for her lies and everyone was quick to forgive. Everyone in class made an effort to try and make her more comfortable, but it was Rose who became her second best friend in the school. Rose was easily the sweetest person in the school and she showered Lila in attention. It was just what she needed. Soon after, Rose, Julika, Nathaniel, and Lila could all be seen planning get togethers, playing pranks and the like. Her relationship with Adrien was a little more hesitant. She made it clear from the beginning that she was not going after Adrien like she was before and she just wanted to be friends. Lila and Marinette got along just as well as Marinette got along with everyone except Chloe. 

 

Six months after Adrien officially discovered Ladybugs identity, he walked into a conversation he was not meant to hear. 

 

"-stop leading him on." He heard Lila's voice coming from the locker room. He was about to enter, when he heard who she was talking to. 

 

"I don't know what you're talking about, I'm not leading him on." Marinette's mildly irritated retort brought him up short. He stopped himself before he could open the door. 

 

"But you are! He is obviously in love with you, and you are just stringing him along on the wild hope that one day you might return his affections. It's cruel and I can't stand to watch it!" Lila's voice was rising in volume and Adrien thought he may have to walk through the door just to prevent an eruption. 

 

"He isn't in love with me. I'm not sure where you got that idea, but it isn't true. We're just friends." There was pause before she spoke much quieter than she had been. "He doesn't like me like that." 

 

"Bullshit! Marinette, I thought you were kind! He doesn't deserve this! He's my friend too!" Suddenly, Adrien knew who they were talking about. Nathaniel. Shy, quiet Nathaniel. Marinette had gone out of her way to be kind to him after the Evillustrator incident. They swapped drawing tips and occasionally she would help him with his comics. He had thought that his crush had gone away, but apparently the artist still favored her. 

 

That would explain why Lila was so worked up. He had been her first friend and she was fiercely protective of him. She had gotten in trouble many times from defending him from Chloe. If she thought Marinette was hurting him, there was no way she would take it lying down. 

 

"Lila-" 

 

"No! You either tell him he has no chance or you do... something! I don't care how you do it-" 

 

"I'm in love with him, Lila!" The outburst silenced the other girl and stunned Adrien to his core. "I am hopelessly and desperately in love with him. I have been in love with him practically since the day I met him. I have been trying so hard to just be his friend and it is tearing me in two!" Her voice cracked, and it took all he had not to bust in there and scoop her up then and there. "Lila, I think you can trust me when I say that if he liked me like you say, I would be the first person to celebrate. I could only be so lucky." 

 

"Marinette-" Adrien couldn’t take anymore. He opened the door and put on his best absent smile, interupting whatever Lila was going to say. 

 

"Oh, hey Lila. How's it going?" He knew he would need time later to process what he had heard but right now Marinette needed him. As soon as she heard his voice, Marinette whipped around and all but tackled him in a hug. He caught a glimpse of her tearful face and immediately hugged her back. 

 

"Hey, what happened?" She shook her head against him and hugged him tighter. He looked up a Lila and she was silently fuming, but looking a bit more wary. She silently walked out of the room. 

 

The rest of the day was uneventful. Everyone seemed to be rather subdued. It wasn't until that night that he let it out. He bribed Phlagg with some of his favorite cheese and took to the roofs he ran until he couldn't and he collapsed on a random rooftop. 

 

Marinette is in love with Nathaniel. Hopelessly, and desperately in love with him. He could hear her voice echoing the words over and over in his head, attempting to drive him mad. He let himself wallow in the pain of it for what felt like ages, but was most likely only a few minutes. He picked himself back up and went home. The next day was going to hurt like hell. 

 

Arriving at school the next day, he knew he didn't look himself. Nino kept shooting him looks, seeming to debate with himself whether or not to say something. When Marinette arrived, she took one look at his face and raced over to hug him. He felt himself relaxing into it. As always, she knew what he needed. He reminded himself that today he had to tell her. She had to know the truth. 

 

He looked up at her once she released him. He grabbed her hand before she could move away. 

 

"Mari, can we go to lunch today, just the two of us?" She looked surprised at the request but nodded and squeezed his hand before moving back to her seat. The morning passed in a blur. He tried and failed to plan out exactly what he was going to say, but in the end there was no way to plan for the confessions he had to make. 

 

They walked to a nearby café together. Marinette was excited about a design she was working on and spent the walk telling him about it in her exuberant hand waves and laughing descriptions. He never grew tired of hearing her stories. The more time they spent together, the more he became sure that he would never get over this girl. When they drew close, he pulled her off the sidewalk and into a little alcove. 

 

She started to ask, but he spoke first. 

 

"Mari, I have a few things I need to get off my chest, and I would really appreciate it if you would let me finish it all before you say anything. Some of it... might be hard to hear, but let me finish first ok?" She nodded looking up at him obviously bewildered. He took both her hands in his and decided to start in the middle. 

 

"About six months ago, I started to suspect something of you and it turns out I was right. I know that you're Ladybug." He looked away from her face and down at their joined hands before he could see her reaction. "It was an accident really, but once I started to suspect, it became so obviously right that I couldn't ignore it. You see, I am very familiar with Ladybug," he paused to gather his courage, "since I am Chat Noir." He peeked up to see her astounded face. Her lips were moving like she was trying to speak, but no words came out. He hurried to continue. 

 

"I have been trying to work up the courage to tell you since I found out. The thing is, you are very hard not to fall in love with. Discovering you were Ladybug may have been the best and worst thing that ever happened to me. The best because I have grown so close to you. You're my best friend, in and out of the suit. The worst because I knew that even with all of that, you didn't feel completely the same. I fell in love with you the first time as Ladybug, the strong, but insecure hero. The second time I fell in love with Marinette, the confident girl who comforts friends and stands up to Chloe with equal ferocity. You have had me wrapped around your finger since the day I met you." 

 

He paused, still staring at her hands in his. He squeezed them and gathered up all the courage he had left for the last confession. "I overheard some of your conversation with Lila yesterday, I wanted you to know that I'm not going to get in the way of you pursuing Nathaniel. I'm sure with how strongly you feel about him that there is no way he doesn’t care about you too. I just had to tell you so that you knew. I don’t expect you to feel the same, I just want you to know..." He finally looked up and into her shocked eyes. He wanted to be sure that out of everything he was saying, that she knew how serious he was when he said this. 

 

"Marinette, no matter what else happens, I want you to know how much you are loved. You will always be my best friend, and I will love you likely for the rest of my life. I know that sounds strange since we are both still so young, but this doesn't feel like something that goes away." He lifted one of her hands and kissed the back of it before releasing them both and taking a step back. 

 

They were both silent for a few charged moments. Adrien could see Marinette's eyes shining as she blinked up at him. Finally she spoke. 

 

"Are you finished?" He nodded, not trusting himself to speak anymore. "We weren't talking about Nathaniel." She whispered before throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him down into a breathtaking kiss. He was to surprised to respond at first, but soon he was clutching at her waist, trying to make this moment last as long as possible before reality set back in. There was no way that Marinette was kissing him in reality. Finally she broke away, breathing ragged. She took a second to catch her breathe, before taking his face in both his hands. She was smiling his favorite smile, the one she wore when she was blissfully happy. 

 

"We were talking about you, Adrien." She leaned up and kissed him again briefly before pulling back again. "I am hopelessly and desperately in love with you." She repeated her words to Lila, this time sounding so joyous, I thought she might fly away. 

 

He felt all the grief wash away in a wave of emotion as he gave a wordless shout before practically picking her up and dancing his way with her out of the alcove. They were both laughing, when he finally stopped right on the street corner. He could tell that people were watching them and didn't care. He leaned in a kissed her in front of everyone watching. 

 

The headlines on the gossip magazines the next day would speculate about who the mystery woman was that swept Adrien Agreste off his feet along with several pictures on their impromptu dance and very public kiss. The kids at school would exchange money from the various betting pools based on their relationship. The teacher would sigh at the new seating arrangement that had Alya and Adrien switching seats. Marinette's parents would laugh as her father passed her mother a few euros from their own private betting. Lila would sit in the back of the class and smirk watching the new couple fend off Chloe. 

 

But all of that could wait tomorrow. 

 

Today, citizens were baffled when they saw Chat Noir and Ladybug swinging across the city in the middle of the day. Alya and Nino both knew what happened when neither of their friends showed up for the rest of the school day. Ladybug and Chat Noir spent the rest of their day kissing on all of their favorite monuments, making Paris their own in the same way couples had been doing for centuries before them. But best of all, they were happy.


End file.
